WHAT’S NEW

1. There is a veteran presence. The Pirates continue to focus on the future, but they have brought in plenty of experience to help them manage the present. Key among their offseason moves was signing Clint Barmes to take over shortstop, a problem position in recent years. He has a history with manager Clint Hurdle from their days with the Rockies. Also, after using eight catchers last season, the club signed 36-year-old Rod Barajas to provide the pitching staff some stability. The Pirates also brought back former star Nate McLouth to be a reserve outfielder and acquired infielder Casey McGehee from the Brewers.

2. The Pirates are spending to keep their young talent. Like most small-revenue clubs, the Pirates can do only so much on the free-agent market. But following the lead of the Rays, they have started trying to retain their young core players. They gave Jose Tabata a six-year, $15 million contract in his second season and locked up All-Star Andrew McCutchen with a six-year, $51.5 million extension during spring training. “We’ve done so much work in past years getting to this point that this is a great step moving forward, assuring we’re going to have excellent, talented players,” owner Bob Nutting says. “It improves our ability to keep some of these guys for the long haul.”

3. Help has arrived for the rotation. They still lack a true No. 1 starter, but the Pirates have rotation depth. They signed Erik Bedard to give them a lefthanded starter and traded for hard-throwing righthander A.J. Burnett after persuading the Yankees to eat $20 million of the $33 million left on his contract. Burnett admitted he was happy to have a clean start away from the Bronx, but he isn’t expected to make his debut until May after fouling a bunt off his face and having surgery to repair an orbital fracture this spring.

PROJECTED LINEUP

1. RF Jose Tabata. His average dropped from .299 in 2010 to .266, but his other numbers held steady despite the fact he was limited to 91 games because of injuries.

2. LF Alex Presley. He could end up in a platoon after a .321 average, .373 on-base percentage and .520 slugging percentage against righties and .231/.261/.338 vs. lefties in 2011.

3. CF Andrew McCutchen. His career on-base percentage (.365) has been steady, but his average dipped from .286 in 2010 to .259 in 2011.

4. 2B Neil Walker. He hit .312 with nine homers against the NL Central in 2011 but .235 with three homers against everyone else.

5. 1B Garrett Jones. He hit .262 with 14 homers vs. righthanders last season but just .147 with two homers against lefthanders.

6. 3B Pedro Alvarez. The second overall pick in 2008, he won’t keep the job long if he doesn’t improve on last year’s .191/.272/.289 slash line.

7. SS Clint Barmes. His total of 12 homers last season for the Astros was more than any Pirates shortstop has hit since 2007 (Ronny Cedeno had two last season).

8. C Rod Barajas. With the Dodgers last season, he scored only 29 runs, but his 16 homers ranked fourth among NL catchers.

PROJECTED ROTATION

1. RHP A.J. Burnett*. He is hoping to return to his NL form (3.73 ERA in seven seasons with the Marlins) after posting a 4.79 ERA in three years with the Yankees.

2. RHP Charlie Morton*. He led the club with 171⅔ innings and had a solid 3.83 ERA last season, but he is coming back from October hip surgery.

3. RHP Kevin Correia. He went 11-7 with 4.01 ERA before the break last season but was 1-4 with a 7.23 ERA in the second half.

4. RHP James McDonald. In 2011, he was the team’s only starter to post a lower ERA (3.93) in the second half than the first (4.42).

5. LHP Erik Bedard. His 24 starts for the Mariners and Red Sox last season were his most since 2007, but he averaged barely five innings per start.

* Expected to start the season the D.L.

PROJECTED CLOSER

RHP Joel Hanrahan. His 1.83 ERA led all closers in 2011, but he failed to average a strikeout per inning for the first time since 2007.

SCOUT’S VIEWS

Strengths: “For a team that used eight different catchers last year, signing Rod Barajas will make a difference. He will bring power to a team that had trouble scoring runs last year, and his defense has improved. They still lack a power hitter—I like Andrew McCutchen better as a leadoff hitter—but they have upgraded behind the plate.”

Weaknesses: “This is a team with a staff of No. 5-type starters. I’m not sure they have helped themselves that much with A.J. Burnett and Erik Bedard. Burnett is a No. 3 because of his inconsistency. Same with Bedard, and that is when he is healthy. They got good first halves from Jeff Karstens and Kevin Correia last year, but the way they struggled in the second half does not make me think this team has a rotation to contend in the Central.”

BOTTOM LINE

Having a healthy Burnett from the start would have meant a lot to the Pirates’ chances of ending their record streak of 19 consecutive losing seasons. But unfortunate incidents seem to follow losing teams. Burnett went down early, possibly taking the Pirates’ hopes of a winning season with him.